The Book of Imaginary Folklore is inspired by Chris Van Allsburg's The Mysteries of Harris Burdick. The book is comprised of ambiguous captions accompanied by a full page illustration of each caption (see page mock ups below). It is unique in that the captions play on common themes of folklore and fairy tales, as if each page is a window into a folk tale that could exist, but doesn’t. The goal of the book is to explore these familiar themes and to act as a springboard for the reader's imagination.

This book is intended for children or for adults who are interested in art and folklore.

Selected texts and images:

Blue Flowers

The old woman had warned the girl to only pick the pink flowers, but she thought the blue ones were the prettiest she had ever seen

Illustration for Blue Flowers (click to see larger)

The Thief:

The sound of black wings flapping grew ever closer, but the boy ran faster, thinking he just needed to make it to the old oak tree

Sketch for The Thief (click to see larger)

page mock ups:

Blue Flowers (click to see larger)

The Thief (click to see larger)

other possible captions:

Old Twiggy Face:

The man of twigs sat down on a fallen tree to rest and wondered if he would ever find others of his kind.

Soot and Ash:

Her curiosity getting the better of her, the young girl thought to herself “No one will notice if I take a quick look”, and knelt down to peer up the chimney.

The Doorway:

The golden key felt oddly heavy in the boy’s pocket as he realized the knot in the old tree looked a lot like a key hole.

Not yet titled:

The young woman and the old bear danced and danced, and when the clock struck midnight, the most peculiar thing began to happen.

Not yet titled:

The spinning wheel was still in the attic where the old woman had hid it many years ago. As she pulled away the dusty sheet that covered it, she wondered if it still held it’s powers.